


Scars

by thefalloutalleyouthzone



Series: Drink You Gone [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Eventual Romance, M/M, Slow Burn, Vampire Hunter!Zoro, Vampire!Sanji
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 17:02:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16453883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefalloutalleyouthzone/pseuds/thefalloutalleyouthzone
Summary: “Zoro.” The sound of his name made the hunter look directly into Sanji’s red eyes, recognizing the serious tone he used when saying it. “What did you do?”“It’s none of your business, curly.” He wanted to make it sound like a threat but his voice got caught in his throat, making him sound suspicious.Sanji stood up, cigarette dangling from his mouth. “You went after them, didn’t you?”





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> title inspiration: Scars by IAMX

Zoro trudged along the concrete streets, lifting his heavy feet one after the other, cursing under his breath with every step. He clung desperately at his neck to try and stop the bleeding, but he wasn’t sure how much blood he actually had left. His arm was drenched in it, dripping onto the pavement leaving bloody marks as he persevered through the pain. He was grateful at how dark it was. No one could see the mess he was making -yet neither could he. His good eye kept forcing itself shut, listening to the part of his body that was screaming at him to stop and rest. He nearly did a few times. But the other part of him, the part that made sure Zoro the vampire hunter never forgot the promises he made to himself all those years ago, fought back. That part encouraged him to make it to the end of the street so he could turn the corner and finally reach his place where he could patch himself up.

 

If he had gotten his bearings right that is.

 

He hissed as he reached the corner, urging his body to last a few more seconds. The blow to the side of his neck would be perceived as deadly to some, but he was just fucking glad that he hadn’t been turned.

It hadn’t been worth it to get this wound in the end. He thought he’d found a loose lead to his family’s bloodsucking murderers, the  _Kyūketsuki_ , a clan he’d been following for  years and didn’t want to lose the small chance at getting some revenge, so he tracked the shitty vampire across the entirety of East Blue just to find out it was all a lie. The vampire had claimed to be a part of the clan to try and boost his image, but little did he realize a ferocious vampire hunter was out to get every last one of them.

Zoro hadn’t been quick enough this time though and got stabbed deep in the neck with a knife.

It was lucky he didn’t drop down dead there and then when his brain instantly thought it would be a good idea to pull the knife  _out._ It really wasn’t his best move but he stuck to it anyway.

 

Zoro kept his head down as he turned the corner, hoping it would restrict some blood flow, but he didn’t have a fucking clue how the body worked. He just knew to keep applying pressure until he could stitch himself back up. He’d been in this situation plenty of times before- his chest, his left eye, his feet. He had watched others tend to him so it couldn’t be hard to figure out. He just needed to reach his place.

 

So it really didn’t help when he managed to bump into someone turning around the same corner in the opposite direction, getting his blood all over them.

 

He didn’t dare to look up at who it was. He didn’t have time to. He grunted and pressed on, keeping his head down.

 

Unfortunately, Zoro really couldn’t catch a fucking break that week.

 

The man –strong, male hands always had a distinctive feel to them– grabbed hold of his bloody arm, forcing him to stop. He clenched his teeth, trying to not expose how much pain he was in. He wasn’t sure if he could take someone on right now, but there was only one way to find out.

 

“Where do you think you’re going with all that blood on you, marimo?”

 

He strained a laugh under his breath.

 

_Of course it had to be him._

 

Loosening his pretense a little, he glanced back at his least favorite vampire. “Home.”

 

Zoro watched as Sanji's face dropped a little. He looked exactly the same as he saw him last, which was a given since he was immortal.

The blonde sighed and facepalmed, shaking his head.

 

“What wrong, vamps? Need my help saving your ass? Werewolf got your tongue?” Zoro smirked, not allowing his dizziness to stop him from annoying the vampire.

 

Sanji shot him a cold look. “No, I’m just trying to decide whether or not I should let a lost idiot covered in a shit ton of his own blood, walk into the most densely populated vampire area in East Blue.” He smirked thinly as he watched Zoro’s own smirk fall. “I think it’ll be fun to watch though.”

 

“You’re just messing with me,” Zoro said, yet he couldn’t hear any confidence in his voice.

 

Sanji nodded mockingly. “Sure, sure. I’ll just leave you to it then so another vampire can walk down this road and attack you. It’s not like I could smell you from two miles away and followed the distinct smell of your blood to warn you that you were lost.” Sanji pretended to spot something in the distance, pointing dramatically towards it. “Oh look I think there’s one comi-”

 

Zoro pushed Sanji with the little strength he had left around the corner he had just come from. The vampire didn’t say anything, but the smugness was written all over his goddamn face. Zoro grabbed hold of his shirt with his free hand, the other one still plastered to his neck. He wasn’t sure if he was even stopping the blood from spurting out anymore, he just knew not to let go.

 

He blinked rapidly as he tried to focus his vision on Sanji’s face, but his good eye kept drifting to that damn spiral eyebrow, adding to the dizziness even more. He stumbled into the vampire slightly, gripping harder onto his shirt.

 

Zoro opened his mouth, going to comment on that stupid eyebrow because he really couldn’t stop looking at it, but his brain was trying to focus too hard and he lost his balance completely, falling down and hitting the ground.

He continued falling, tumbling further into darkness. He saw a glimpse of Sanji kneeling over him, mouthing his name.

 

Then, everything went black.

  


***

 

Zoro awoke laying on his couch.

He forced his heavy eyelid to blink rapidly, trying to open his eye more; he still wasn’t used to having only one functioning properly. He rubbed his forehead, trying to remember how he got home last night. He must’ve drunk a lot of alcohol for it to have affected his memory.

 

Right?

 

Zoro continued to stare at the ceiling with a frown. He didn’t recognize it. The color of it was off and it looked all too skewered from what he could remember. He trailed his eyesight down, not recognizing anything else that it met with.

 

“Holy shit…” he whispered.

He wasn’t at home.

 

He shot up into a sitting position and immediately regretted it, feeling a stab of pain in his neck. He went to touch it and was met with the course feel of thick bandages that had been delicately placed there. He looked down at himself, making sure he was still wearing his own clothes. His shirt was gone but he still had his gold haramaki and black trousers.

 

Zoro rubbed at his bandaged neck as he looked around the room more, trying to familiarize himself. He was laying on one of the two leather couches in the room, with a thick, fur blanket wrapped around his legs. There were two coffee tables centered in the middle of the wooden floor and a large decorative light hung from the ceiling that was definitely too much for Zoro’s simplistic tastes. The dark, grey walls were decorated with odd pieces of art and the shelves seemed to be decorated with plants and candles. A large window was situated behind him, curtains closed. A wicker rocking chair sat in front of a partitioning wall on the other side of the room, blocking out what looked like a kitchen, with a black bookshelf packed to the brim with books leaning against the wall adjacent to it. He squinted at them, trying to guess who the hell the owner of this apartment was, but all he could see were books about different types of food from around the world and how to cook.

 

He hadn’t met a single chef in his life.

 

“Where the fuck am I…?” Panic overtook his curiosity though as he suddenly realized he didn’t know where his swords were. He looked around frantically trying to place where they were when a figure walked into the room.

 

“Oh, look who’s finally awake. Welcome back to the realm of the living, sleeping beauty.” Sanji walked in holding a glass of water and placed it down on the coffee table nearest to Zoro. He didn’t dare touch it.

 

“What the fuck is this place? What the fuck am I doing here?” Zoro spat.

 

Sanji planted himself on the other couch with a scornful look on his face. He was wearing his usual get-up minus the cape and waistcoat, with his white shirt undone at the chest. “Hey! Watch your language, asshole. This is my apartment. And to answer your other question, you’re here because you fucking passed out on me when I ran into you.”

 

“So you fucking brought me to YOUR lair?!” Zoro didn't like this one bit.

 

Sanji’s visible eyebrow twitched as he snarled his teeth. Zoro would have made a joke about it if he wasn’t so concerned with his current wellbeing.

 

“What the fuck was I was supposed to do?! You passed out of nowhere and I tried fucking waking you up but you were really out. I didn’t exactly have a lot of options, mosshead.”

 

“Yes, you did? You could have just left me out there? I would have eventually woken up and made my way back to my place or called someone up.” Zoro winced as he tried to shake his head, the pain from his neck was still prominent.

 

Sanji chuckled under his breath. “Are you really that fucking stupid? You were bleeding out in the middle of one of the most dangerous neighborhoods for humans. Based on how long you took to wake up, you would have been eaten alive in an hour or two.”

 

“As if. No way any bloodsucker would ever come near me.” Zoro said it with conviction, but the blonde didn’t buy it and rolled his eyes.

 

“Oh yeah? Because that’s exactly what happened tonight. I could have drained you out if I wanted to and you wouldn’t have been able to stop me. Do you know why? Because you were fucking unconscious and on the verge of death, bastard. You have no idea the amount of blood you lost tonight.”

 

“Whatever you say, dartbrows.”

 

“Fuck you.” Sanji shook his head and reached his hand into his trouser pocket. “If anything, you should be showing me some fucking gratitude for saving your dumb ass when I didn’t even have to.”

 

Zoro scoffed. “Excuse me? Remind me again when exactly did I ask you to save me?”

 

“Well, clearly you didn’t get a chance to because your dumb and weak self couldn’t manage to stay awake long enough for that.” Sanji fished out a cigarette and placed it in his mouth to light it. He got out his lighter from the other pocket and lent the cigarette into the flame, taking a long drag.

Zoro didn’t think vampires could get addicted to such things but he could see the blonde was enjoying that.

 

“I was managing just fine before I ran into you, vampire.”

 

“Oh yeah? And how exactly did you end up in this shitty mess in the first place? Who stabbed you?”

 

Zoro shut his mouth then, not really wanting to tell the vampire what he’d been up to.

Because technically, they had made a deal, and technically, he had broken it.

 

“Zoro.” The sound of his name made the hunter look directly into Sanji’s red eyes, recognizing the serious tone he used when saying it. “What did you do?”

 

“It’s none of your business, curly.” He wanted to make it sound like a threat but his voice got caught in his throat, making him sound suspicious.

 

Sanji stood up, cigarette dangling from his mouth. “You went after them, didn’t you?”

 

Zoro immediately opened his mouth to yell no and curse at the vampire, but he faltered and decided against it. He was too tired to keep up a farce with the vampire, despite the obvious want for a fight within him. He figured it was his new injury consuming him.

 

He eventually sighed and nodded.

 

Sanji said nothing. He inhaled his cigarette once more and looked at the floor.

A tense silence filled the air before anything else was said.

 

“This is the exact reason why we agreed to team up, marimo.”

 

“It was nothing, it was a false lead anyway.” He wasn’t sure why, but Zoro felt like he needed to defend the outcome. He looked down at the blanket still wrapped around his legs and lightly ran his hand over it, feeling the texture as a sense of defeat for getting wounded  _very, very_ close to his back, and a sense of shame for not being able to tell what the enemy was exactly, settled in his stomach.

 

“But why didn’t you contact me? You thought this vampire was part of the  _Kyūketsuki_ clan and yet you still didn’t call for help.” If Zoro wasn’t totally convinced he was going mad, he could have sworn he heard the vampire sounding a little bit hurt. “Didn’t we agree to work together now?”

 

Sanji’s exposed feelings threw Zoro completely off. He wasn’t sure what he should say or do. It wasn’t like they were buddies with one another. They had agreed to team up and take out their newly-found out, mutual enemies from time to time, so there was no way in hell that he’d apologize to him. But the odd feeling of guilt joined the other feelings settling on his stomach.

 

He wasn’t used to it at all.

 

“It was just some small fry I had found that had been bragging about his opposed status… anyway, I shut him up.” Zoro looked over to the vampire and could easily tell his emotion then. It was frustration and a lot of it.

 

The blonde leaned back into the couch, finishing off his cigarette hastily.

 

“And yet you were still too weak.” The vampire cursed under his breath. Zoro wasn’t about to give the blonde the satisfaction of answering that low blow so kept his mouth sealed shut and flipped him off inside his head instead.

 

Zoro felt the tension building up again so decided to make his escape by pulling the blanket off of his legs and swinging his legs around, planting his feet on the wooden floor. He stood up abruptly and felt an intense sense of dizziness flood his brain. He immediately lost balance and fell to the floor.

 

Sanji was there in an instant, holding him up away from the floor, looking down on him.

 

“Let. Go.” Zoro spat, trying to push himself away from the vampire.

 

“Where do you think you’re going, shithead?”

 

“I’m leaving.”

 

Sanji snorted. “No fucking way. I’m not letting you leave until you’re all healed up.”

 

“Fight me.” Zoro stretched his neck up and head-butted the vampire in the nose, causing him to lose grip and allowing Zoro to get back up again. He stumbled up, trying to reach any exit possible but was brought down to the floor with a strong kick to the back of his knees. He flipped himself over onto his back but Sanji was already climbing on top of the vampire hunter to restrain him, pinning him down.

 

Sanji maliciously smiled down at him and raised his visible eyebrow. Zoro glared at him, realizing their positioning wasn’t far off from months before when they had faced the other vampire back in the woods, except now their positions were flipped.

 

The vampire applied more of his weight onto the hunter before Zoro even had a chance to struggle to get up. “Stop being so fucking stubborn, algae-head. Just fucking rest. Fighting me won’t do anything.”

 

“I don’t wanna be any more of a bother, dartbrows. It’s fine. Just let me go.” Zoro groaned. He narrowed his eye at the vampire suspiciously. “Or are you planning on having me for dinner later?”

 

“As if.” The vampire scoffed and rolled his eyes a little  _too_ much at Zoro’s question in his opinion. “I only eat the best of the best.”

 

Zoro knitted his eyebrows together. “So I’m not good enough?”

 

Sanji shook his head. “No.”

 

Zoro looked up suspiciously at the blonde. It suddenly dawned on him that Sanji would have had to carry his ‘dying’ self all the way to his apartment, covered in the stench of human blood. It would have been extremely miserable and intoxicating for the vampire, no matter how much he might have trained himself against the smell in the past. The wound had been on the hunter’s neck, the perfect location for any hungry vampire to feast.

 

Sanji would have needed an insane amount of self-control.

 

_He really is something else._

 

Zoro continued to prod at the other though, teasing him as he always did. “Yeah right. I’ve had loads of vampires tell me my blood smells amazing.”

 

“Don’t know what they‘re talking about, marimo,” Sanji replied breezily, but he looked a little weary with his response.

 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, curly. But oh wait, do you even sleep?”

 

“Fuck you.” Sanji spat. He finally lifted himself up from his Zoro’s chest and stood up. “Just shut the fuck up and stay in the couch, please.”

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“Why, did you want me to continue pinning you to the ground?” Zoro hated how his face wanted to go red at this comment as if being tackled by the vampire was bad enough already.

 “I’m gonna go cook.”

 

Zoro blinked a few times.

 

_Wait, what?_

 

_Cook?_

 

“Yes. Cook.”

 

Zoro hadn’t even realized he had asked out loud. He stayed looking at the vampire, waiting for the punchline to drop.

It didn’t.

 

Sanji was walking away again when Zoro asked his next question. “Why?”

 

The blonde turned around with an expression of confusion on his face. “Because everyone needs to eat? Food is a basic need required for survival? Isn’t it obvious?”

 

Zoro narrowed his eyes.

He had never heard of a vampire cooking anything let alone eating.

 

He had to question some more. “Do you and your people eat anything besides humans, though?”

 

Sanji hung his head in his hands and laughed. “Man, you really do have a lot to learn. Holy shit.”

 

“You only drink blood, don’t you?”

 

Sanji ruffled his hand through his hair and sighed. “No. We do not only drink blood. Besides, I wasn’t gonna cook for me.”

 

Zoro frowned. He glanced back over to the bookshelf and peered over the cookbooks, understanding their connection to it all now.

The vampire hunter couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. He still couldn’t trust Sanji, but the vampire had managed to save his life rather than drink it away, so he had to show some gratitude for what it’s worth.

 

It seemed the vampire could sense the uneasiness as he tried to reassure Zoro. “Don’t worry. Just sit back and I’ll let you know when food is ready.”

 

It wasn't like he could do anything else.

 

***

 

It wasn’t very long until Zoro was sitting at a table in Sanji’s brightly lit kitchen with a plate full of rice placed right in front of him.

He had been sitting in the living room the whole time the vampire was cooking, thinking about how fucked up the situation was. He had survived death by a mere few seconds and had been saved by a shitty-ass bloodsucker, the thing he hated most in the world, and would now be forever in his debt until his conscience decided otherwise.

It fucking sucked.

Still, he was deep-down, very grateful that Sanji had saved him. The vampire knew Zoro wasn’t done with the world yet. It had only recently been made clear to them that they shared the same goal in life; to take down the  _Kyūketsuki_. Both hadn’t told the other why they were doing it, they weren’t that close, but the vampire must have understood how much it meant to Zoro for him to complete what he considered his only calling in life.

Zoro hadn’t realized how hungry he was until his stomach growled at the aroma of Sanji’s cooking coming through to the living room and hitting his nose. Salivation built up in his mouth as his body caved in, reacting to the divine smell. He’d never reacted like this way with food before, including the time when he ate for the first time after not eating for three days straight.

After an excruciatingly long wait, the vampire had finally called him in to eat.

 

Sanji watched him closely now, waiting for Zoro to take his first bite.

 

“I hope you haven’t mixed blood in here, shitty cook.”

 

“Call me that after you’ve finished your meal and I’ll tell you,” Sanji smirked.

 

_He’s an arrogant bastard when it comes to cooking then._

 

Zoro slowly, even though his body was screaming at him to move quickly, picked up the fork he’d been given and scooped up some rice. He held eye contact with the vampire as he placed it in his mouth.

Annoyingly, this meant he saw the shit-eating grin spread across the blonde’s face when the taste of beef, egg, rice, and mushrooms exploded heavenly onto his taste buds, and a  _guttural moan_ escaped him.

 

_Shit._

 

Zoro slowly chewed, restraining himself from letting any other embarrassing sound creep out unexpectedly.

 

“You don’t have to hold back, marimo. Make all the sounds you want.” Sanji grinned.

 

Zoro wanted more than anything else in the world to climb over the table and punch that shitty smile off of the vampire’s face, but he had listened to his body protesting long enough so stayed seated, silently chewing on what could only be described as the best meal he’s ever consumed in his whole damn life. Instead, he raised his middle finger at the blonde as he scooped up another couple of mouthfuls of rice.

 

This only seemed to make Sanji smile even more.

 

The blonde didn’t say anything else though and simply watched Zoro as he hastily finished the meal. It was taking everything in his willpower to not show any sign of him enjoying the food, but he could tell Sanji had already won the fight from the moment the vampire had offered to cook for him.

 

Zoro finished his rice with a satisfying sigh, finally giving into his body’s request to show some appreciation to Sanji’s cooking.

The vampire silently grabbed his plate and took it to the sink to wash it up.

 

With Sanji’s back turned, Zoro felt like he could ask the question that had been prodding at him in his head.

 

“So what made a shitty vampire like you decide to learn how to cook human food?”

 

He heard a chuckle under the vampire’s breath. “I haven’t always been a shitty vampire you know. I was human too once, idiot.”

 

Zoro took a chug of the water that the vampire had given him earlier and wiped the side of his mouth with the back of his hand. “Care to spill?”

 

Zoro watched the blonde’s shoulders slumped. “It’s a long story.”

 

Zoro drank some more of his water and looked around, hoping to see if there was any alcohol hidden away somewhere he could substitute the water with. If he was expected to stay with Sanji for longer, he was going to need it.

 

_Do vampires even drink alcohol?_

 

“Well, according to you I’m still healing so I can’t leave, curly. I’ve got time.”

 

“Glad to know you only listen to me when it’s convenient for you, shitty marimo.” Sanji murmured.

 

The hunter could sense some tension there. Maybe he was barking up the wrong tree. “Listen, if you don’t wanna share that’s fi-”

 

“I was turned when I was 19.” Sanji began to explain, still focused on washing up. “So I grew up as a human.”

 

“How does cooking come into play, then?”

 

“My family were… strict so they didn’t want me learning how to cook. I had to follow what they had planned for me, to join an army of sorts. But when I wasn’t training, I’d find ways to sneak out and visit m–the old man Zeff. He was a chef at this renown restaurant called the Baratie.” Sanji continued to explain as he finished washing up, moving swiftly over to the oven where a cloth hung, wiping his hands slowly. He avoided Zoro’s eyesight at all times as he did so.

 

“Huh. Doesn’t ring a bell…”

 

“Of course you wouldn’t know it, moss-for-brains.” Sanji finally glanced over at the hunter. “First of all, it was a 5-star restaurant and full offense that just doesn’t seem like your kind of place. Second of all, the Baratie closed down about five years ago. And it’s not even in this area.”

 

Zoro clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Smartass. So what? You’d just go visit him and he’d teach you how to cook?”

 

Sanji nodded, moving to sit down opposite Zoro at the table. “Pretty much, yeah. The old geezer refused to take me in the first few times I asked, but he made me prove to him that I was worth taking on as an apprentice.”

 

“Well, by your cooking, I’d say you proved him right.” Zoro felt awkward about giving a bloodsucker what could come off as a compliment, but he had seen his reaction to his food. He already knew what the hunter thought about it.

 

“Are you really surprised, though? Of course I did.”

 

Zoro frowned at the vampire’s arrogance. “So what happened to this guy anyway? Why did his restaurant close down?”

 

Sanji drummed his fingers on the table and looked down. Zoro shifted in his chair uncomfortably. He could tell Sanji was hesitant to open up. He was just about to change the topic when Sanji finally spoke. “He moved out of the town but… He’s dead now. He died two years ago.”

 

Zoro internally winced. “Shit.”

 

“Yeah.” Sanji continued to look down at the table.

 

Zoro wasn’t really sure what to say next. “... Sorry.”

 

Sanji shrugged. “It’s not your fault. And like I said, it was a while ago now.”

 

Zoro watched the vampire closely. Even though Sanji stated it was a while ago, it was as clear as the shine on Zoro’s swords that the vampire was still grieving over the loss.

“So what? After you were turned, you just kept cooking human food for no reason?”

 

“Yes and no. I’d cook for Zeff sometimes and I also learned how to cook gourmet meals that’d seem appealing to me as a vampire.”

 

Zoro shook his head, not sure whether he had just misheard. “Wait, you still continued to see this guy even after you were turned into a bloodsucker?! Dude, are you fucking insane?”

 

Sanji finally looked up. “What is that supposed to mean, asshole? Humans and vampire can co-exist, contrary to what you may believe. In fact, that’s exactly what we’re doing right now!”

 

“Ha. Not always, dartbrows. Contrary to what  _you_  may believe, there’ve been plenty of cases where a vampire’s thirst takes over and they end up feeding on whatever human is closest to them.”

 

“What the fuck? I’d nev-”

 

Zoro’s eyes widened, suspicion kicking in. “Holy shit. Wait. Is that what happened? Is that how that old man died?! You lost control one day and attac-”

 

Zoro couldn’t finish his sentence. A surging pain exploded in the back of his head as it whacked against the kitchen wall. A muscular hand wrapped tightly around his neck, squeezing it, making it difficult for him to breath. Feet off of the ground, he gasped for air and tried to fight against the sheer amount of force the vampire was pushing against him.

 

“What kind of fucking monster do you think I am that I’d do such a thing to the only man I ever saw as a father? Fucking say that again and I will drink  _your_ blood until  _you’re_ no longer breathing.”

 

Zoro looked into the vampire’s eyes and noticed they were redder than before. He glanced further down at Sanji’s fangs and saw how they had extended, showing his threat was most definitely real.

 

Zoro sneered at him, struggling for breath when speaking. “Threaten me again and we’ll see who’s the last man standing, bloodsucker.”

 

Zoro was dropped immediately back onto the ground. He collapsed, coughing as he tried to take in as much air as he possibly could.

 

“Shit, shit, shit… I didn’t mean to… I-”

 

Zoro looked up and saw the murderous glaze gone from Sanji’s eyes. He looked more apprehensive than ever as he pulled on a fistful of his hair.

 

Zoro's body started to ease itself from that surprise attack, calming itself down. He sighed and watched the vampire closely, making sure he was prepared for a follow-up attack if need be. “Relax, curly brows.”

 

Sanji wasn’t paying attention. He started to pace around the kitchen table, still pulling at his hair, shaking his head frantically. “No, no… I haven’t lost control like that in a long time…”

 

Zoro pushed himself up from the floor slowly, making sure he didn’t get whiplash or anything. He wiped himself down and waited for the vampire to come close to him again. He grabbed hold of his arm when he did so, stopping him in his tracks and forcing Sanji to look at him. “Guessing since you were first turned?”

 

Sanji slowly shook his head and looked down. “Since I saw Zeff die right in front of my eyes.”

 

It was scary to see such a vulnerable side to the vampire. It felt wrong like he was overly exposed. Part of Zoro felt like it was his fault.

 

Zoro let go of Sanji’s arm and looked down too. “I shouldn’t really have implied that you killed him. Something within you really snapped, huh.”

 

“You think, asshole?” It was meant to be aggressive, but it had no bite to it.

 

Zoro looked up again and studied Sanji’s face. His visible eyebrow twitched as if it knew it was being scrutinized. “If you don’t mind me asking…” Zoro cleared his throat, “How did he die, then?”

 

“You sure do ask a lot of questions about me for someone who claims to hate vampires that much, marimo.” Sanji huffed.

 

“And you sure are too good of a cook for a vampire.”

 

Sanji’s head shot up as he said this and he would have been blushing like a damn fool if he had enough blood in him to do so. He hadn’t meant to say that, but it slipped out so easily that he didn’t recognize it for what it was.

 

Sanji’s eyes searched his face questioningly. “Was that a compliment?”

 

“As if.” He frowned, trying to pretend to understand why the vampire would take it that way, which was a pretty foolish idea.

 

Sanji looked at him for a few seconds longer before his mouth broke into a small smile. “I’ll take it.”

 

“Whatever, shitty cook.” The hunter went to exit the kitchen to get away from whatever the fuck was going on between the two of them but Sanji put his hand out, stopping him from escaping.

 

“Is that your favorite nickname for me now? Do you give nicknames to every vampire you meet, algae-head?” The vampire was back to teasing his ass off but Zoro figured it was better than full-out attacking him.

 

Zoro rolled his eye at him. “Only the ones I’m not currently trying to kill.”

 

“Well, thank you.” Sanji placed his hands in his pockets, grabbing another cigarette. “I don’t know if I should take advantage of this and rip your head off, or feel honored.”

 

Zoro didn’t laugh. Instead, he studied the vampire, watching him light his cigarette entrancingly as he thought about how fucked up it had been for the guy. He felt Sanji shift uncomfortably under his gaze, aware Zoro wasn’t going to forget his attack anytime soon.

 

Sanji inhaled a few puffs of smokes before breaking the silence that had settled. “Whatever. Go rest up so you can get the fuck out of here as soon as possible.”

 

Zoro did smirk at that. “Believe me, I don’t want to be here any more than you do.”

 

Sanji nodded his head. “That’s one thing we can agree on. Also, if you need anything, just let me know before you go on your own and mess up my kitchen, mosshead.”

 

Zoro made sure to hold up both middle fingers behind his back, knowing fully well that Sanji could see them as he left the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Even though Halloween is almost over for this year, we still plan to add to this every once in a while, but we will go back to our other fic soon!


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